Sunderland are set to lose a significant number of players to the African Cup of Nations
Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland are fully aware of the challenge they will face during the Africa Cup of Nations later this year but believes the squad does now have enough depth to cope.
It was a hugely successful transfer window for the Black Cats but one area of concern for supporters is that a large number of the summer arrivals are set to represent their countries when the competition kicks off in December. Sunderland will almost certainly lose six players for at least a fortnight, while it could be seven if Chemsdine Talbi is selected by Morocco.
Speakman says Sunderland discussed the issue regularly throughout the summer but decided they were ultimately better off recruiting the right calibre of player who they knew could succeed at Premier League level.
"Yeah, I understand the question," Speakman said.
"We've discussed that lots as we've gone through the window. The most important thing for us was getting the quality of player that we needed for the Premier League.And there's a lot of players with high quality for the Premier League that play for countries that are going to be in that competition. So we recognise when that competition comes around, we're going to lose one or two players naturally. But that's where the competition and the depth is going to come in, and hopefully we'll be in a really positive place and that the players will be in a position where they'll be able to carry on the momentum through that period. It's a long season and for a small period, we're going to be missing some players. We have to accept that."
What Régis Le Bris said about AFCON earlier this summer
Speaking during the club's pre-season training camp in Portugal, head coach Régis Le Bris said he was confident the club would ultimately have a strong enough squad to withstand the absences.
"Obviously, we know [what could happen]," Le Bris said.
"At the same time, the market is the market and you can't do always exactly what you want, about the African Cup, about younger players or more mature players... whatever it is [a club is looking for]. I think that at the end, we are going to have a competitive squad. I think even with this, we are going to have depth in our squad. It's needed. We don't know how long they will be gone, it will depend on the results. At the same time, I think the depth of the squad we will have will help to manage this situation."
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